Big Fish

Dir: Tim Burton, 2003 (9.0*)
This is my favorite Tim Burton film – he finally seemed to make a fantasy with heart. This is about a man, Billy Crudup, who is fed up with his dad’s Albert Finney’s "tall tales", but realizes he may not live forever so he ought to get to know him before its too late. The stories were from years of being a traveling salesman in the South, so he begins to piece together the facts (and finding his real dad), some of which we see in flashbacks, with Ewan McGregor playing the young Finney character who strikes off on his own looking for his calling. Look for heavily made-up Helena Bonham-Carter, who inhabits a hilarious leaning house. Full of magic and parables, such as one town takes your shoes when you enter so you can't walk away, tossing them over a high wire above main street. Even the dvd menu is magically animated, with the tree you see going through all four seasons if you wait - best menu ever! Four Oscar nominations, including Picture and Director.